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Wow....so interesting to follow this. Well done.
When I saw the Klim banner in your garage I figured you must like dirt bikes as well.
Me and my buddies take an annual riding trip in July to Crested Butte/Taylor Park area.

Thanks, man! :neener Hell yah! So much fun riding down that way. Check out Ouray next time you make a trip. Unreal down there! I've explored a lot of those areas in our 4Runner and on the dirt bike. I need to get down there in the winter though. Backcountry snowmobiling is my ultimate passion. Here's my machine. You can follow our shenanigans on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Motodrew/videos?disable_polymer=1

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Took the sled up to the cabin last weekend in preparation for winter! Got my Husky Kickback flaps ordered. Going to do the best I can to keep crap off the side of my truck. Hoping I'll be able to get rid of the 3" spacers on the front this week by grinding down my spindles with a heavy duty angle grinder. I only need to create about 1/8" of clearance. I'll take some photos.

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Well, I spent the majority of the afternoon with ear plugs, welding gloves & safety glasses grinding away at the spindle to create enough clearance. The photo below shows my tightest spot where a bulge on the tire comes closest to the spindle. Initial driving tests have not shown the tire to rub yet. I'm concerned a loss of tire pressure may cause the tire to stick out more, maybe? Gotta keep an eye on it, but it drives so much smoother and straighter now! The stance is great! Got the tire tucked in as far as the Fabtech lift allows, I believe. The mudflaps & long johns fender flares will be going on next week!

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Now that winter is over I now have more time to spend working on the truck. I still plan to fabricate the traction bars and perform the TransGoJr kit as soon as I can find time. With a baby on the way, time is very limited! I took off the sled deck for the summer recently and just returned from delivering this Ultimate Trailer for a buddy's CanAm Spyder.

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Purchased and installed new body style mirrors from Boost Auto Parts yesterday. I'm digging them a lot. Rigged up the rear facing white LEDs to be controlled by my bed lamp switch. Puts out quite a bit of light!

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Today I got a jumpstart on setting up my traction bars. First thing I did was cut the DOM tubing to accept the rear axle mounting point. If you're unfamiliar with an affordable way to cut DOM tubing, see this video: https://youtu.be/AQB1pYH1xiE

Since my welding skills are sub par, I did some cleanup afterwards for a clean look after paint.

Now I was able to press in the bushing and mock up the bar at 60" by clamping the chassis bracket in place temporariliy. I taped the heim joints in place on the ends. You will see where I will ultimately weld them in place once I determine the length I want.

Moc'd up:

Gotta weld the heim joint bungs on the ends of the tubing once I figure out the length I want. I also gotta weld the chassis brackets in place and then paint the tubes before I'm all done.

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With the addition of my 5” blocks to the Duramax’s power it causes more leverage on the leaf springs under power. Essentially, the axle twists the leaf springs causing your rear axle to point upwards. This makes your driveshaft angle at the u joint very wobbly. These bars prevent this axle wrap and help keep things solid while towing as well.

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With the addition of my 5” blocks to the Duramax’s power it causes more leverage on the leaf springs under power. Essentially, the axle twists the leaf springs causing your rear axle to point upwards. This makes your driveshaft angle at the u joint very wobbly. These bars prevent this axle wrap and help keep things solid while towing as well.

'ppreciate the response and the visual. Made the "axle point upwards" make sense. Makes complete sense but not something i would have considered.

If someone were to increase their power output but not raise the rear of the pickup would this need to be considered? Seems like at stock stance there would be a power threshold for twisting as well (albeit a lot more wiggle room than if the u-joint angle is already increased).

Potentially. The leaf springs will twist into an S shape if there is enough power. The rear shocks are staggered on either side to help prevent this. Worn out shocks contribute to the axle wrap as well. I carry a lot of weight on my sled deck and additionally pull a trailer, so I'm just trying to prevent any improper wear to my driveshaft/rear end components and have a smooth towing experience.

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Thanks to the RIDE OF THE MONTH forum, I was able to score a $200 gift voucher to DuramaxStore.com! Thanks to everyone that voted! I used the gift voucher to score this goodie from MBRP! I'll be performing the install later this week!